Did I mess up my tank?

[Tamberav]

I put powdered chalk in my reef tank all the time on purpose I mean it's basically what Coral Snow is.

Just rinse it out good and set it up!

 

[Sharkbait HooHaHa]

Drywall mud is water based. It rinses completely away if you use enough water. I've cleaned and re-used drywall mud buckets for aquarium purposes for years--including mixing my salt water. Rinse the tank really well. Clean it with vinegar if you want to be extra sure. You won't have any problems.

 

[Adventures In Reefing]

You will be fine, Water / vinegar /water good to go. ive heard of people doing much much worse and still being OK

 

[Kodock]

This sounds like a good idea should I put all the pumps/skimmer and everything in to get a good cleaning or just run a pump? And how much vinegar in the water?

I would put a half or whole gallon jug of the distilled vinegar in with the hose water. From what I know, it is recommended to use a 1:3 or 1:4 vinegar to water ratio to clean aquarium equipment. You will want to leave your return pump in to run vinegar water through the tank. You can also toss in any equipment that was compromised or just needs to be cleaned inside the display area, no media.

I personally would not use bleach.

If there is one thing that can make this hobby easier for you, it is an RODI system. They are around $150-$200+. I personally think it is a must have. I recommend biting the bullet and buying one, seriously. If you leave the hobby, they do not devalue drastically, so you can recoup some of your investment.

Here is a link. You can start with the basic model and always add to it. I use the 5 stage to be safe.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/4-stage-value-ro-di-system-bulk-reef-supply.html

Video

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/brs-4-stage-rodi-system-spotlight/

You can hook it up to a garden hose, sink faucet, shower head, water line, etc. You should us water to top off your tank when it gets low, to make saltwater, and as a neutral solution to wash things off. LFS’s are not always open and some charge bookoos for saltwater or rodi water.

 

[Cathillian]

So my tank was sitting in garage and is ridiculously nasty from instinct I grab a bucket from garage a sponge and start cleaning. The bucket use to store drywall mud... so many chemicals in that crap and likely the sponge I used as well... is there a way to completely disinfect a fish tank to get all toxins out? All I can find are ways to clean one not recover from a bad cleaning.

I’ve used CLR to clean the used tank I got and just rinsed it out with water really well. I’ve had it set up for two years with no side effects.